The European Day of Languages is on 26 September. It was set up by the Council of Europe as a reminder that the continent speaks dozens of languages, and that this is an asset rather than an obstacle.
In a virtual reality session, the language question has a less obvious answer than it seems.
Many scenarios need no words
Much of what a person sees in a session has no text and no narration: waves against the rocks, a church bell, a busy market. Ambient sound does not need translating.
That is a practical advantage. A scenario without words works for the same person in Leiria or in Fortaleza, and it works for someone who can no longer follow long sentences.
The words that count are the team's
The spoken part of a session happens outside the headset. It is the team that explains what is about to happen, asks how the person feels, and says they can stop whenever they want.
Those sentences have to be in the person's language. Not the system's, not the language of whoever installed the equipment, theirs. A safety instruction given in a language the person does not command is not a safety instruction.
When the first language comes back
Anyone who works with people living with dementia knows this: someone who lived their adult life in another language may, over time, return to the language of their childhood. An emigrant who spoke French for forty years may, in a care home, answer only in Portuguese.
When that happens, the session follows. The team speaks the language the person understands today, which may not be the one on the admission form.
Portuguese on both sides of the Atlantic
Since this month, RVer has a partner in Brazil. It is the same language, and it is not the same language: words, accents and references change, and a scenario that brings back a memory in Portugal may bring back nothing in Fortaleza.
That is why the plan for Brazil includes, in time, content made for people who live there. Language is not just what is said. It is also what is recognised.